I live in country in a small Sierras community. The main motivation to create the system was having realized that the people I share social and community projects with have valuable knowledge, skills and abilities, both for the community and for themselves. However, I realized they didn’t have the money needed to cover their basic needs or to develop community projects. I realized that the country’s money goes from the poorest regions to the wealthiest ones and that it was necessary to create a reliable and stable local currency system, based on a community currency that can make visible each person’s skills, allow them to exchange skills with their neighbors and to support common projects. This is how Banco de Horas Comunitario started to work in 1999 and keeps growing in the local and neighboring communities.

I am a Yoga teacher. I have learnt Karma Yoga and Unselfish action Yoga. In this way I met Mahatma Gandhi’s disciples as who are role models for this type of yoga. Lanza del Vasto and Vimala Thakar visited Argentina and from them I learnt non-violence and the basis for local and community development. I was in some occidental Gandhi communities in France and Spain as part of my training.
I founded and directed an education association for 9 years. I am currently founder and president of SOL Foundation (Solidarity, Organization, Liberty)
In 1999 I created Banco de Horas Comunitario as an alternative financing system that supports more than 40% of the budget for the community activities we organize.
I am Ashoka Fellow since 2003.

Each member has access to 4 markets created through the system.
1) The socio-educational store: it’s similar to a big store that sell all kinds of goods, food, clothes, books. These goods are produced by members or donated by companies.
2) Administration: the member can buy any type of services. The Bank has a great variety of services: education, cleaning, babysitting, transport, entertainment for children parties, builders, plumbers, etc. The bank also has work contracts signed by members with an assigned value. These are equivalent to checks except that they offer products and services valued in the local currency.
3) Fairs: every 15 days a fair is carried out where members offer and buy their products.
4) The monthly bulletin: members see what other members offer in a monthly publication and reach personal agreements to buy products.
The community currency is used for all purchases. At the store, in the administration and in the fairs only the community currency is used. The local and the national currency can be used in the bulletins.

Members can sell their products and offer services everyday at the bank’s store, at the fairs held every two weeks or in the Administration. The bank administers the personal accounts and a member can sell their products or services in advance by signing deferred checks. For example, if a member needs 200 peruvian soles to repair her house, she can sign 4 checks of 50 soles each offering meals, so the administration gives her 200 soles. The checks are bought by other members and this is how the debt is cancelled. The local currency always tends to circulate in big urban center or financial markets, what makes small local communities empty. Through the community currency local circulation circuits are created where a currency based on the committed members’ productive skills is created. The currency circulates in the local market until the Administration sells the goods that back it up.